Dear Ministry Partners,
This past month was a real blessing! God has given us an opportunity to visit with our grand baby Eva, we went to Suda orphanage and ministered to the kids there, then we packed our suitcases and came over to the States to recharge our batteries, meet with our friends and partners who can't wait to see us, love and believe in us.
Eva turned 1, she learned to walk at 8 month and now she can go for a walk with us, hallelujah! Oh, she is so precious, needless to say, we had a ball with Eva and my son Arthur and his wife Olga. We love being grand parents, although sometimes we do not feel that way!!!!!! We also spent time with Olga's folks in the village and my dad in Cherepovets before we left for the States. Indeed, we had mixed emotions, on one hand God called us to travel to the States and on the other hand, we did not want to leave family, friends and our ministry partners.
Orphanage Ministry. As you may remember Olga and I pioneered the work in orphanages in Cherepovets, Krivets and Suda, Russia after the Lord came down to us one day in 1995 and told us to reach to the orphans. At that time, Olga and I would spend much time traveling to different churches, denominations and ministering to pastors, leaders and believers with the productive Bible study course. It was obvious, God wanted us to reach unchurched as well. We obeyed the voice of God and went to Russian orphans, they just loved the Good News, they loved the message that brought them freedom from past aches and sin in their lives. To this day, they are happy to see us as we come visit them. ICM of Russia life-saving crew continues doing Bible studies, crafts, sports, games as we visit orphanages. The kids are totally engaged as Abner or Andrey or I share from the Word, they just love to play games as Nelly leads us! I just got a praise report from the team the other day, they went to see the kids again a week ago! It went just fabulous, they said. I praise God for each and every ICM of Russia Crew member who joined the vision and ministry through the years! I look forward to seeing more people involved in the ministry. Olga and I would like to thank each and every one of you who had been standing by us in the ministry all these years!
We arrived in the States in the beginning of the month. It was a long trip: we spent like 11 hours in the car going from Cherepovets to Moscow to catch our plane. It was a smooth but long flight , 9 hours from Moscow to New York and some 6 hours from NY to Sacramento. This year it took us five days to adjust and get over our jet lag. On Tuesday we went to DMV to fill the papers out to put our car back on the road. After we got our car insured, we drove to So. California for a couple of meetings. The meetings went very well. I had an opportunity to minister to the children in one of the churches in Redlands encouraging them to pray and become missionaries to advance the Kingdom of God wherever they go! It was awesome! Next day we were given a thank you card from fifth graders! I was ministered in a very powerful way as two boys showed up and handed us a card! Thank you, Lord for using us elsewhere! Olga and I are praying about how God can use us here even more so! Things are starting to develop and we are waiting to see what the Lord has planned for us! We are excited to be back ministering in the States! Please keep us in your prayers as the Lord leads!!!
